The four of us flew over Yarburn Archipelago and in the direction of the coordinates Dice had found. I squinted down at the beautiful view.
Yarburn had always been my favorite area, being all on bridges and walkways over the water connecting the fresh water of a river with the salt water of the ocean. I had even been told that if you tasted the water, you could tell which one was the salt water and which one was fresh, which I thought was some crazy attention to detail for a game where all senses were involved.
Despite having never explored this far out from the shore, something about the view looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on where I had seen such a familiar series of islands before.
Somewhere in real life maybe? Brock would know. He knows every detail about this game.
With all of Cipher mounted, it didn’t take us long to fly over the bay toward the collection of islands. With Chloe on her phoenix, Dice on his Black Dragon, me on my Peragon, and Vega riding, of all things, a magic carpet, we descended down to one of the largest among a curved line of islands—the one that contained the dungeon the coordinates had pointed out to us.
“The dungeon is on the east side of that island,” Dice called as he pointed down.
“What’s this place called anyway?” Vega asked.
“Romit Island.”
“Romit?” Chloe repeated, screwing up her face. “That’s a really weird name for an island.”
I was about to agree with her. The name only increased my suspicion that I had seen it somewhere before. I went to say so but stopped when Dice pointed to what looked like a metallic black dome jutting out of the hillside. “Is that the dungeon?”
Dice nodded. “Yup, that’s the Primatier dungeon the code alludes to.”
“What’s the dungeon called?” Vega asked.
“Romit Research Center.”
I frowned. “Strange place to have a research center.”
Not wanting to waste time hiking through the island brush to get to it, I directed my focus toward the dome. The warm wind rushed into my face as Peragon banked and we began to circle down toward it. We landed on the hard metal, hitting with a loud clunk that seemed to vibrate the whole dome. I climbed off Peragon and stood on the black dome. Even through my boots, I could feel the heat of the dark surface.
Chloe grinned at me. “If there are any monsters in there, they definitely know we’re here now.”
I shrugged, feeling reasonably confident in my own ability. Even without the FTS, we had little to worry about because I knew who was on my team and that the dungeon was only Primatier. I walked over to the edge and jumped off onto a surrounding pathway.
The dome wasn’t that large and I stared skeptically, doubting that an entire dungeon could fit inside it. I halted at the large arching entrance, grinned and called, “Found an opening! Heading in!”
As I went to push open the door to the Research Center, a red light appeared above me, and with a loud buzz, the doors swung open. I jumped back and equipped my Sapphire Edge. When nothing emerged, I looked inside the darkened room, frowning. There didn’t seem to be any monsters in there. Chloe and the others caught up with me and she gave me a puzzled look when seeing I had my Color Blade out for no reason. I grinned sheepishly and unequipped it before we all wandered inside.
Of what I could see from the light outside, the floor tiles were separated into triangles that pointed into the center of the small room, kind of like a sliced pizza. At the back of the small chamber was a control panel on a raised platform, which glowed in the shadows.
Chloe gazed at the panel, eyes wide. “Wonder what this is for.”
The panel had several buttons and gauges. I tried to find a button that would allow us to go farther into the dungeon.
There was a narrow slit with the words “Enter Keycard” next to it, and I sighed. “Crap, first roadblock.”
Dice moved up next to me.
“Anything you can do about this?” I asked him.
Dice nodded. “The card must be a key item in the game. I can go through the code catalog and make a copy so we can use it.”
I patted him on the back. “I knew I kept you around for a reason. Just in case, though . . .” I turned to the others. “Take a look around the place and see if you can find anything that might act as a keycard.”
“No need,” Dice said. He stared into space for a moment but then raised his hand. With a bright flash, a plastic card appeared between his fingers.
Chloe smiled. “Wow! So much for a side quest to find the keycard.”
“Thought I would bring it up before you demand I wave my hands and open it with magic.” Dice passed it to me. “Besides, we shouldn’t waste time when such resources are at our disposal.”
I inserted the key into the slot and a screen lit up on the panel. The screen showed the floor separating and pulling into the walls, set on repeat. I was about to push the button next to it but then stopped, recalling how these dungeons generally worked, and turned to the others in the room.
“This could be a trap. You might want to stand where I am.”
Chloe and Vega joined me nervously on the platform. I pressed the glowing button. At first, nothing happened. Then there was rumbling and the sound of clanking gears. With a short vibration below our feet, the tiles on the floor separated. The pizza slice-shaped sections whined on rusted gears and pulled into slots at the base of the walls. The platform remained, allowing us to peer down into the room below.
Although there was an elevator that could take us down, the ceiling of the room wasn’t very high, so I followed Chloe’s lead as she leaped down into the lower area. I regretted this almost immediately. Chloe gave out a short scream and before I knew it, something leaped onto my back, sharp claws digging into my coat. I smashed onto the floor, my Hit Points dropping in the corner of my vision.
I ground my teeth. “Alright, fine.”
I reached a hand round behind me and thought of fire. My Fireball must have struck whatever it was in the face, as it screamed and flew off me. I rose to my feet and waved my hand up as it charged again, blowing it back with a Wind Blast while summoning my Sapphire Edge. However, before I could lay into it with several Shockwaves, Vega landed on its back, stabbing it to the floor with a long spear and halving its Hit Points.
The monster was a kind of Komodo dragon with a curved blade in place of a tail.
I shouted, “Behind you!” in warning as one of the blades slashed at Vega’s back.
Vega leaped up onto the hilt of his spear to avoid the blow. Even so, the slash cut through the spear’s shaft and he fell back to get some distance.
There were three of these lizard creatures: the one that was advancing on Vega, one that was slashing its tail at Chloe, and one that Dice had just struck with an Ice Arrow. It appeared these monsters were weak against ice attack, as the arrow froze it solid.
Cold-blooded creatures. Makes sense, I guess.
“Chloe, do you have any Ice Bullets?” I asked, raising my fist.
“Way ahead of you!” she called back, reloading her gun with glowing blue bullets.
Just as she shot the one slashing at her, I launched my Ice Coffin spell, hitting the one charging at Vega. I timed it just right, for as soon as the blade-lizard froze in place, Vega had equipped a mace, which finished it off, shattering its body across the floor. Seeing the Skill Points accumulate in his vision, Vega grinned.
“Thanks, buddy!”
Dice shook his head. “Am I only the one who researched the monsters in this place before we headed here?”
“Yeah,” Chloe replied derisively. “What’s the fun in doing a dungeon if you know everything that’s going to happen beforehand?”
Vega eyed Dice, brow raised. “She’s got a point.”
“Tsh . . .” Dice looked to me. “You did say not to waste time. Best way to do that is to be prepared.”
I inclined my head at them. “You’ve both got good points.”
With the excitement calming after the ambush, I finally managed to look around the room. The place was wider than the entrance, clearly underground, and moss and vines covered the walls. There were posters and charts around the walls, but due to the moss, they were barely visible.
Chloe smirked at me. “That was pretty messy, Noah, at least compared to your fight at the Battle Royal.”
I nodded but kept my mouth shut. Admittedly, I hadn’t calculated that my Future Projection ability wouldn’t work against monsters. It made sense considering they were A.I. and didn’t have conscious intentions that I could read. At the same time, I figured Chloe saying this was just her trying to get me to hint at what the ability did. That it only worked in PvP fights was a pretty big clue.
I surveyed the room, trying to change the subject. “Shouldn’t you be looking for more clues from your brother or something?”
Chloe frowned and rolled her eyes before walking off to search the walls. I turned to the other two and decided to voice what I’d had in my mind since we had arrived.
“Does any of this seem familiar to you guys?”
Vega stuck out his bottom lip and frowned, but Dice smiled.
“I see I wasn’t the only one who did their research,” Dice said as he moved to the door across the room from us. Flashing his keycard, the door slid open and I followed him through.
“Ah, I get it,” I said as I saw the familiar long corrugated iron corridor with pipe walls and a grated floor. “So, this design . . . it’s similar to the Engine Room, then?”
Dice nodded. “It predates it, but the design is very similar. As you can see, it’s cooler and less chaotic, but I think this dungeon went largely unnoticed considering it was a Primatier dungeon in an area of the game that only can be accessed by people who have survived Tertiatier dungeons.”
“So they recycled the design layout for a Heaven dungeon and made it one of the most difficult Tertiatier dungeons in the game so it wouldn’t go unappreciated.”
Dice nodded and together we slowly moved into the corridor.
“It makes sense then why Lucas would leave us a hint leading us to this place,” I continued, “not only because of the dungeons’ connection but because—”
“Noah!”
Chloe’s shout both interrupted me and startled me. I whirled about just in time to see a creepy plant monster rise up into the vents in the ceiling behind me. Not wanting to let it escape so it could sneak attack me later, I aimed a Fire Weave into the vent. However, besides the roaring of my flame through the metal passage, it gave no sign as to whether or not I actually hit it.
“Damn,” I muttered and then turned to see Chloe, who was pointing back the way we had come in. “Did you find something?”
Chloe caught up with me. “One of the posters under the moss had a layout of the floors in this place.”
“Let me guess: it has nine floors?”
Chloe stopped in front of me and narrowed her eyes. “And?”
I suspected the excitement of the dungeon had made the others forget why we were here in the first place. “If Lucas left us a message here, it’ll most likely be on the second floor.”
I turned and made to catch up with Dice, hearing Chloe let out an, “Oh!” of understanding before she caught up with us.
Similar to the Engine Room, two monsters appeared around the next corner. Made of vines interconnecting with the ever-present moss, the plant monsters waddled into the view like skinny green penguins. At their tops were little pink flowers that opened up and shot sharp seeds at us. As soon as I saw the flowers open, I rubbed my hand in front of me to create an Ice Wall and the seeds stuck into it.
Vega ran to catch up. “Oh, Noah, can I take these guys? I need to few more Skill Points to learn a new ability.”
I grinned. “You’re the best among us and you still need Skill Points?”
“I’ve only been playing for a month and haven’t unlocked everything I need yet. Come on, Noah.”
I rolled my eyes. “Alright, but make it quick.”
Vega grinned. “I’ll take a note out of your book for this one.”
I didn’t know what he meant until he jumped on top of the ice wall, crossed his arm in front of him and slashed it out. “Burn, evil plant monsters!” he shouted as a Wildfire spell filled the grated pathway behind my wall.
As the flame roared and then ceased, I realized the ice in front of us was melting. I looked out from behind it to see that there were only the ash-covered remains of what was left of the plant monsters.
Well, I did tell him to make it quick.
“Alright! A few more and I can get Blaze Conductor!” Vega called as he slid down what was left of the wall.
I stood up. “What’s that?”
“It allows you to control the direction of fire spells after they’ve been cast and can make it so Wildfire can be focused on one enemy.”
I stuck out my bottom lip. “I didn’t know about that one.”
We all moved to the end of the corridor. Unlike in the Engine Room where the gear spun to work as a kind of escalator, the gear at the end of this one was clogged with weeds and wouldn’t move.
I grinned. “Escalator temporarily stairs.”
Chloe eyed me as she climbed down. “You stole that joke from Mitch Hedberg, didn’t you?”
“Hey, I didn’t say I invented it, did I? Besides, it’s appropriate considering the given circumstances.”
We reached the bottom and spread out along the wide second floor. Recognizing the room’s similarities drew Chloe toward the same corner where the code had been in the Engine Room. A few more plants showed up, but we worked together to light them ablaze, Dice with a Flame Arrow, and Vega and I with Fireballs. His Wildfire spell was a bit excessive considering how easy they went down this time.
When they were nothing but ash, we turned to Chloe. She was still crouched, swiping away layers from the wall and shaking her head.
“Did you find another clue?” I asked.
“Something’s not right. It’s supposed to be at the back west corner, but this place looks different from the second floor in the Engine Room.”
“So nothing’s showing up?”
She gazed up at me, eyes suddenly glassy. “I can’t find it.”